Outstanding progress in communication technology and development of a communication infrastructure in recent years have enabled people to exchange various kinds of data via various communication lines. For example, the Internet which is rapidly growing its popularity throughout the world has allowed exchanging of various kinds of data (information), or downloading of application programs to be used. Furthermore, the Internet allows not only a PC (personal computer)-to-PC data exchange, but also a data exchange between a PC and a device such as a portable phone and a portable information terminal. For this reason, Internet-based information communications, along with these information devices, are expected to become even more prevalent.
In response to the development of the information society, an information environment for automobiles or the like has been also showing a rapid advancement. For example, automobiles have conventionally been provided with a device such as an FM/AM radio and/or an MD/CD player. In addition, there is a growing trend of further providing these automobiles with various in-vehicle information devices, such as a vehicle-antitheft device, a navigation system, and/or a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive.
For example, in an in-vehicle information device amongst such information devices, data downloading has been performed for updating of the data stored in the in-vehicle information device. In a meanwhile, programs or the like have been downloaded in a typical PC (Personal Computer). Amongst these programs, there has been software so-called shareware which requires a user to make a payment, in order to fully use the program after a trial period thereof. As described, there has conventionally been a widely-spreading form of practices in which users are charged for obtaining some kind of data through communications.
Note that the followings are Patent documents 1 and 2 of the prior art.
Patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-189113/1999 (Tokukaihei 11-189113; published on Jul. 13, 1999) discloses a method for updating in-vehicle information device. The method is aimed at updating an in-vehicle information device through a simple procedure, without a need of complicated working procedure. More specifically, a head unit and an in-vehicle information device are connected to each other via a data transmission path, thereby constituting an in-vehicle information network system. The head unit is provided with an input slot for accepting a storage medium storing an updating program. When this input slot is loaded with the storage medium, the head unit transmits, to a predetermined in-vehicle information device to be updated, a communication frame including: (I) command data containing an updating command; and (II) source data containing the updating program from the recording medium. In a meanwhile, the in-vehicle information device receives the communication frame, and executes the updating program based on the command data and the source data in the communication frame.
Patent document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-4485 (Tokukai 2000-4485; published on Jan. 7, 2000)) discloses a singlecast interactive radio system. This system is aimed at economically transmitting, to a subscriber, a digitalized audio based content with quality of a spoken voice, upon request from the subscriber. More specifically, the system includes a personal radio station server and a plurality of user terminals, and utilizes one of existing wireless communication networks as a transmission medium. Information of a highly compressed voice content is stored in a data network server. The personal radio station server stores therein subscribers' profiles with topics of individual interest, and assembles a content material from various websites, in accordance with the topics. Then, from this personal radio station server, the content is transmitted upon request from a subscriber, to a subscriber's user terminal via the wireless digital data network. The user terminal restores voice-based material with AM-radio voice quality or better.
However, in a terminal device owned by a user, there is no charging system for charging a user for modification of various parameters each determining an operation of the terminal, such as what action is taken in what circumstance in an vehicle-antitheft device, for example.
Here, in a portable phone system or the like, for example, there has been a system that allows a user to modify a content of a contract (e.g. discount plans) by inputting a request via a portable phone. This system allowing a user to modify a service content provided by a portable phone company, however, does not allow aforementioned modification in an operation of a terminal device owned by a user.
Further, there has been a system in which a data set is given a valuation in the form of point, credit, money, or the like, and the valuation is used for exchange. However, there has not been a system allowing free exchanging of information (i.e., giving a piece of information in trade for another piece of information), the system deeming data-to-data exchange as a unit of exchanging. In short, there is no information bartering system.